VAMPIRES IN NORTH CAROLINA

And while there are many stories of vampires and vampire hunts all over Europe and the Caribbean one of the best documented vampire stories ever occurred over about a year period in and around Dillsboro N.C. from 1788-1789. In the spring of 1788 a family arrived in the then small mountain community of Dillsboro N.C. Their last name was Alfort and their were rumors that they were descended from royalty. They bought land down by the river and built what was then a very nice large colonial home. Mr Alfort opened up a doctors office and pharmacy in rooms in the front of the house and people were at first really happy that a new doctor had arrived in their community. But very quickly two different men who had went to the new doctor to be treated for gout died. Both men had been well liked members of the community and it really angered a lot of people. However in a few months the local minister had made a peace in the community and for a time everything seemed to be fine. However the time of peace was short lived. That fall a young girl child of the Minister was found dead in her bed with puncture marks to her throat. The Ministers wife swore she had saw a dark form hovering over her daughter and she screamed but it was to late and the child had died. This caused a huge up roar in the community and the people of the area started to claim a vampire or a group of vampires was loose in their midst. Many nights groups of men went out and searched but they found nothing. However some men claimed to have seen a large black bat like creature fly over them. A few nights later a young boy ran down the hill to his grandfathers house and told his grandfather something was up the hill in his Daddy's house attacking his Mom and Dad. The grandfather summoned other men and they ran to his sons house up the hill but the man , woman, and two girl children of 3 and 9 were dead with puncture wounds to their necks.

The area was immediately in a uproar and soldiers were called in and they searched the community. By February of 1789 things had quieted down when one evening screamswere heard and when men arrived they saw a black form of a human run from the house and run down the hill and into the Alfort house. When the village men went into the house where the screams had come from they found the bodies of a young couple with vicious bite marks to their throats. Almost at once more men came and they were told that the murderer had ran down the hill and into the Alfort house. When the search party of men got to the Alfort house Mr Alfort refused to let them in. However as soon as the sheriff arrived they dragged Mr Alfort outside and tied him to a tree. When the men entered the house they found some strange things for sure. Their were bedrooms upstairs with beds but it was clear no one slept in them. When the Sheriff and search party got downstairs they found three caskets and Mrs Alfort dressed all in black was in one of them but very much alive. She hissed and cursed at them when she was pulled from the casket. Later that night the Sheriff and the villages Minister announced to the crowd outside the Alfort house that the Alfort's and their son were vampires. The Alfort's were hung and then placed back inside the house that night. The house was set on fire and was burned to the ground. However the couples 15 year old son was never found and he was never seen in the area again. And their were no more vampire murders or unusual murders in the area. Were they really vampires no one will ever know. But something very strange indeed had went on and people at the time said that the Alfort's were vampires. If the Alfort's were not vampires who was the vampire. Because something or someone was going around killing people and biting them on the neck.